February 18, 2009, 2:21 PM (GMT+02:00) President Shimon Peres repents As he began consultations for the formation of Israel's post-election cabinet Wednesday, Feb. 18, President Shimon Peres made an extraordinary statement. Addressing the Presidents Conference, he admitted for the first time that Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005 was a mistake "which will not be repeated." His decision regarding the composition of the future government would therefore be dictated by its policies, he said. DEBKAfile Special Report February 18, 2009, 2:00 PM (GMT+02:00) A special cabinet session Wednesday, Feb. 18, unanimously endorsed prime minister Ehud Olmert's demand that Gilead Shalit's freedom be a pre-condition for any truce arrangements for Gaza and its crossings. Until Olmert took the reins out of his hands, defense minister Barak had been leading the Israeli side of the Cairo talks without making the release of the Israeli soldier a priority. Olmert has cut him out of the picture. DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 18, 2009, 2:18 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile's military sources report that defense minister Mostafa Najar and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov are making good progress in the talks they began Tuesday, Feb. 17 on the sale of advanced S-300 ground-to-air missiles to Iran. Both sides agreed it was essential to provide Iran's Bushehr reactor with an effective system against air and missile attack. DEBKAfile Special Report February 17, 2009, 2:25 PM (GMT+02:00) Dr. Noah McKay remains an enigma Iranian media this week offered a glimpse into the purported double life of an Iranian-born American physician alleging he was a secret bio-weapons scientist. They reported that Dr. Noah McKay (formerly Nasser Talebzadeh Ordoubadi) died in mysterious circumstance Saturday, Feb. 14 aged 53, vaguely accusing "intelligence agencies" of causing his death, which no one else confirms. Dr. Noah is described in his American biography as a pioneer of Mind-Body-Quantum medicine. The Iranian media claim he was a leading bio-weapon researcher into antidotes for toxic weapons. DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Report February 18, 2009, 2:12 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKA-Net-Weekly's reveals the terms of the accord US president Barack Obama has secretly forged with Saudi King Abdullah and the ways in which they plan to work together in the Muslim world, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Moscow in contrast is deepening its ties with Tehran. The implications of this widening divergence are examined in the coming issue of DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE . DEBKAfile Special Report February 16, 2009, 2:47 PM (GMT+02:00) Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks - only by video link Hizballah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah declared Monday, Feb. 16 that his terrorist organization is fully entitled to arm itself with every kind of weapon "including anti-air missiles in its struggle against Israel." Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak said earlier this month that such weapons "would change the strategic balance and force Israel to act." President Peres admits Gaza disengagement was a mistake
More...Cabinet unanimously approves Olmert's demand to free Gilead Shalit first
More...Progress in talks on sale of advanced Russian S-300 to Iran
More...Was the late ex-Iranian a US doctor or bio-weapon scientist?
More...Barack Obama concludes secret pact with Saudi King
Nasrallah hints at Hizballah's access to anti-air missiles
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Wednesday, 18 February 2009
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